Open Thread–2/20/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:53 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 202020

It’s a tired day here in the CatBox, and I’d like to get an early head start on my nap as Store to Door is delivering groceries some tome this afternoon. Have a Republican flush day.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:45 (average 5:34). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

TC from the Inside:

Here are the endoscope photos I promised you.

Barf Bag Alert!!

0220TCguts

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Shortly after the Democratic Presidential debate on Wednesday night, aides to Michael Bloomberg announced that he would spend ten billion dollars to buy an entirely new personality.

Acknowledging that some attributes of the former New York mayor’s new personality have yet to be ironed out, campaign advisers indicated that the eleven-figure outlay would be used to purchase warmth, empathy, and humanity.

Additionally, billions of Bloomberg’s war chest will be used to remove several unappetizing qualities from his current personality, including arrogance, touchiness, and a glaring inability to hide his contempt for others.

Amen, Andy. Straight news! RESIST!!

From NY Times: President Trump on Wednesday named Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany who quickly antagonized the establishment after arriving in Berlin in 2018, to be the acting director of national intelligence overseeing the nation’s 17 spy agencies.

By choosing Mr. Grenell, who has little experience in intelligence or in running a large bureaucracy, the president signaled that he wants a trusted, aggressive leader atop an intelligence community that he has long viewed with suspicion and at times gone to war against.

As ambassador, Mr. Grenell made public statements that some German officials took as expressing opposition to the government there, an extraordinary intervention into domestic affairs that diplomats typically avoid. He attacked what he called “failed” open-border policies in Germany, which has resettled hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, and criticized Berlin’s stances on Iran, military spending and Chinese investment in global telephone networks. He also expressed an eagerness to empower conservatives throughout Eur

What we have here is an appointment that exemplifies Fuhrer Trump* and the Republican Reich: a Director of National Intelligence, who is completely devoid of intelligence. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Zombies – Time Of The Season HD

Ah… the memories. RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/19/2019

Posted by TomCat at 8:43 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 192020

It’s an exhausted day here at the CatBox, so this is my only article today. Yesterday, they started my test an hour early. The nurse inserted my IV in a very small vein, and the pain I felt when the anesthesiologist shot the Jungle Juice was extreme and intense for the minute or two it took to knock me out. I was done and ready to go home at 12:30. WWWendy’s school had told her she could leave an hour early at 2:30. But both of her co-workers called in sick, so they let her go an hour late at 4:30, and she hit rush hour traffic. She did not get to the hospital until after 5:30, and it was after 6:30, before she got me home. None of this was her fault, and I am blessed to have her. I have a very sore throat and raging heartburn. I have a tumor growing where the esophagus meets the stomach, partially blocking the passage. Food gets hung up there, and when it can’t go down, it comes up. The doctor said it looks malignant, but we won’t know for sure until the lab results from the biopsies come back. The pictures he took are sitting on WWWendy’s dashboard. I’ll scan and post them for you tomorrow, as tonight is a WWWendy night. Those are not the results I wanted to get. ARGH! I just can’t catch a break these days. Happy Hump Day to all!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:07 (average 6:13). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The Borowitz Report: In an apparently successful attempt to get under the skin of Donald Trump, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has purchased Greenland from Denmark.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, would not disclose the price that Bloomberg paid for Greenland but indicated that it was an “all-cash offer.”

“Mr. Bloomberg has a lot of money,” Frederiksen added.

News of Bloomberg’s purchase of Greenland reportedly infuriated Trump, who immediately ordered his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to make an offer to buy the Faroe Islands from Denmark.

Andy, is it true that Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten* was so pissed that he went to Nambia for a Hamburder? RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Lawrence & Rachel Question Reports That Barr May Leave DOJ Over Trump Tweets

I so wish Barrf would quit that I can taste it, but if you believe it, we really do need to talk about that bridge I’m selling. RESIST!!

From YouTube (Robert Reich Channel): How Democrats Clean Up the Messes Left by Republicans with Robert Reich

Of course the Reich on the left, Robert Reich, is right, and the Reich on the Right, the Republican Reich, is shitting all over America with their welfare for billionaires. This is NOT Trump. The Republican Reich had done this for years, and I have been calling them on it for years too. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Ricky Nelson – Travelin’ Man 1961

I danced the cha cha to this, when I was 13. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/14/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:51 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 142020

Last night I had an emergency attack of midnight Republicosis. It was so severe that I didn’t make it to the throne. Cleaning the mess took over two hours. Needless to say, I’m very tired. TGIF!!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:02 (average 4:55). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Warren On Bloomberg & The Practice Of Banks ‘Redlining’ Minority Communities

Bloomberg is blaming the victims of Bankster financing scams against minorities and investors. The Banksters were the criminals. “Redlining” is the practice of drawing red lines around minority (usually black) neighborhoods and denying all applications for real estate loans there. Bloomberg expressed strong support for this racist practice. RESIST!!

From The Borowitz Report: Attorney General William Barr was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday afternoon after the remote-control implant in his brain briefly failed, the White House has confirmed.

White House aides first noticed signs of the implant’s malfunction during an interview Barr gave to ABC News, after which the Attorney General was immediately strapped to a gurney and transported to Walter Reed.

A team of surgeons was able to identify the problem with Barr’s implant after an examination revealed a “low-power issue,” a Walter Reed spokesperson said.

After the surgeons replaced the tiny battery in Barr’s implant, the Attorney General appeared to be recovering well and was able to speak to reporters at his bedside.

Dang Andy, he better get that battery checked regularly! Otherwise, he might puke, when he’s supposed to Barrf! RESIST!!

Also from YouTube (MSNBC Channel): A Quid Pro Quo In Plain Sight?

Did Hakeem Jeffries call it right, or what? I fully agree with the suggestion that, when Trump* and Cuomo meet, Cuomo should wear a wire. How else can he defend against Republican Altered Transcript Syndrome. As for Trump*? Impeach the son of a bitch! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Lesley Gore – You Don’t Own Me (HD)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/13/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 132020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries sometime this afternoon/ I’m hurrying to try to catch an early nap. On the plus sided, breakfast stayed inside me. Have a great day.

Jug Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:07 (average 4:53). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Willamette Week: A lawsuit filed Feb. 11 by seven tenants against their downtown landlords alleges squalid living conditions in the apartments above a Portland landmark.

The plaintiffs: Seven tenants of the Stewart Hotel at 127 SW Broadway

The defendants: Leon and Pamela Drennan and Pennie Narver, who are associated with the building’s landlord and owner.At issue: The Stewart Hotel, located next to iconic strip joint Mary’s Club, is filled with single-room-occupancy apartments. It’s both a relic of a bygone Portland and a desperately needed home for low-income Portlanders. Monthly rent is about $600.

The claims: The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, documents shockingly unhealthy conditions for Portlanders finding shelter there, even as the hotel’s caretaker has filed for bankruptcy and apparently abandoned all care of it.

The lawsuit lists a horror show of conditions: “holes in walls, cockroach infestations, lack of heat, persistent and potentially dangerous mold, broken washers and dryers, debris in common areas, bed bugs, and inadequate plumbing.”

0213Stewart

I actually had to live there when I became disabled, and could not work, and when it took me four years to get SSDI disability approval and three more years on Central City Concern’s waiting list, after which I moved to the Henry. It’s as bad as they say it is. The landlords are pseudo-Christian Republicans. I hope the tenants succeed in their suit. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: In a decision that Donald Trump called “incredibly unfair,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson has sentenced Roger Stone to ten years of house arrest in the home of Senator Susan Collins, of Maine.

As part of the sentence, Senator Collins will be required to live under the same roof as Stone, in Bangor, and insure that he is properly fed, clothed, and exercised until 2030.

The sentence immediately drew howls of protest from Stone, who claimed that living with the ceaselessly waffling Collins would “send me over the edge.”

“Judge, can we revisit the whole prison idea?” Stone begged Jackson.

Dang, Andy! As much as I hate to admit it, I’m on Roger Stone’s side. Having to live with Slithering Susan Collins is clearly cruel and unusual punishment. RESIST!!

From YouTube (MSNBC Channel): Experts Warn Democracies Facing Autocracy: Protect Your Institutions

Masha Gessen could not have been more accurate in her speech. Her list of rules was just as good, as was Snyder’s. I have been comparing the Republican Party with Germany’s National Socialist Party of the 1930s for years. History proves me right every week. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Ventures – Wipe Out

This is the first song I played publicly in a band after I got my Fender Stratocaster. Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/11/2020

Posted by TomCat at 7:56 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 112020

I’m afraid I’m having a rough day. I could not keep breakfast down, and my heartburn is screaming. This is my only article today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:45 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From YouTube: Asked who’d be her ‘Mike Pence’, Warren says ‘I already have a dog’

FOMCROTFPIMPLMAO! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: An employee who regularly self-identifies as “troubled” or “concerned” would benefit from seeking a different job, leading workplace experts said on Monday.

Professor Davis Logsdon, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Workplace Health Institute, cited the case of a Maine woman who appeared to undergo a traumatic experience every time she was faced with a difficult decision at work.

“According to her own account, each decision followed an excruciating period of existential torment,” Logsdon said. “Any employee who finds decision-making this harrowing should clearly consider working somewhere else.”

Logsdon said that the woman’s frequent episodes of being troubled and/or concerned usually resulted in an unsatisfactory outcome.

“At the end of her nightmarish deliberation process, she lost the capacity for individual judgment,” he said. “She just went along with what everyone else in the office decided to do, regardless of the harm that such a decision might cause.”

Andy, I fully agree. Slithering Susan Collins [R-ME] needs a new job. Work to clean up all the bullshit she has spewed would give her job security for years! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Beach Boys – Don’t Worry Baby

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/6/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 062020

It’s a busy day here in the CatBox. Store to Door is delivering groceries some time this afternoon. I hoped to get an early nap., My stomach acted up all day yesterday, and Stumpy has been underdoing a rare bout of phantom nerve pain for over 24 hours. It feels like someone is stabbing my left ankle with a knife, but I don’t have a left ankle. I hoped to get an early nap, but that appears unlikely. ARGH!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 5:03 (average 6:51). To to it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: In the aftermath of Pete Buttigieg’s strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, Donald J. Trump accused the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor of engaging in “suspicious travel” to Afghanistan.

“People are saying that he went to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014,” Trump told the hosts of “Fox & Friends” in a phone call. “Seven months is a long time to be running around in a Muslim country full of terrorists, don’t you think?”

He added that Buttigieg reportedly had a gun with him while he was in Afghanistan, a fact that Trump said “sounds fishy to me.”

“Let’s see, you fly all the way to a Muslim country full of all of these terrorists who need guns, and you’re bringing a gun into a country like that?” Trump said. “Who was he planning to give that gun to?”

“I don’t know if he was part of some caliphate or just helping them out, but we ought to find out,” he said. “I have a call in to the President of Afghanistan.”

Dang Andy! Do you think he was part of an evil conspiracy with gay Muslim terrorists? Far more likely, Trump* will get a second asterisk on his name from his coming “perfect” call to President Ashraf Ghani! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Trae Crowder Channel): Liberal Redneck – Pelosi Disrespects Trump

FOMCPIMPROTFLMAO! I could not agree more! RESIST!!

From YouTube (Jeff Merkley Channel): Statement on the Senate Impeachment Vote of Donald J. Trump

Spot-on, Jeff! Once again I’m proud to have volunteered for his campaign. Oregon leads the way! RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly • Main Theme • Ennio Morricone

Ah… the spaghetti westerns! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–2/5/2020

Posted by TomCat at 9:19 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Feb 052020

It’s a hectic day, here in the CatBox. I still haven’t recovered from Monday’s ordeal. Last night, I accidently heard part of Trump’s* address, almost lost my supper, and felt nauseous for the rest of the evening. This morning, I broke through three days of Republicitis. I’m hoping Republicosis does not follow it, as it often does. WWWendy is coming this evening, and I’m totally ready for de-stinking. Happy Hump Day!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:55 (average 4:26). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: The Rotating (Regional) Primary Plan

Recommended by the National Association of Secretaries of State in 2000, this plan would divide the country into four regions—Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. There would be four primary days, one for each region. They would rotate every cycle. The original plan preserved the Iowa/New Hampshire duopoly, but just ditch it and rotate. Would work fine. Perhaps my favorite.

I guess I wasn’t the first to think of the idea I proposed yesterday. Great minds fall in the same ditch, after all. Please click through to see four more primary scheduling plans. RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: Calling the delay in the release of the Iowa caucus results “a threat to democracy,” the state of Florida has offered to help Iowa with the vote-counting process.

Harland Dorrinson, a spokesman for Florida’s official electoral commission, said on Tuesday morning that “Florida stands ready and willing to restore credibility to Iowa’s vote-tabulation procedures.”

Dorrinson added that Katherine Harris, Florida’s former secretary of state, was eager to “roll up her sleeves and clean up Iowa’s mess.”

“Just say the word, Iowa, and Katherine Harris will be on the next plane out,” he said.

Dang, Andy! Are you sure that’s Harland Dorrinson? I heard it was his brother, Chad! Or did they hang him? RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Simon & Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence – Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009/10/29&30

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

Open Thread–1/31/2020

Posted by TomCat at 8:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 312020

It’s a muggy, tired day here in the CatBox. I missed most of my nap yesterday, due to grocery delivery, and I’m feeling really pooped. TGIF!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:10 (average 5:54). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: Sen. Rand Paul has not been getting enough attention during this impeachment process, so he executed his predictable and promised stunt on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, submitting a question to Chief Justice John Roberts during the Q&A session that presumably contained the name of the whistleblower. Roberts refused to read the question, so Paul left the floor to have an “impromptu” press conference (and probably hit the send button on a fundraising email).

CNN’s Manu Raju reports, “At press conference, Paul says: ‘I can tell you my question made no reference to any whistleblower.’ Then Paul reads aloud his question which names a Schiff’s staff member and names the individual who has been reported as possible whistleblower—and asks about their contacts.” This was an apparent effort to get the press to publish the name, since he seems intent on getting the whistleblower killed.

It likely won’t work. One reporter asked, “With all due respect, shouldn’t you be at the impeachment hearing right now?” Of course he should have been, and the sergeant-at-arms should be putting him in the Senate jail right now.

Mitch (ours, not BBMMM) suggested a parade. For now, I’ll just remember his title: Idiot (Rand Paul), Son of Idiot (Ron Paul), Named after Idiot (Ayn Rand). Lock him up! RESIST!!

From The New Yorker: The convicted drug lord known as El Chapo said on Thursday that he was “outraged” his 2019 trial had included witnesses. He also revealed that he was demanding a new trial without them.

Speaking from ADX Florence, a maximum-security facility in Colorado, the former drug kingpin complained that his trial would have resulted in a speedy acquittal had it not been for the irritating presence of witnesses.

“If I had to point to one reason why I was convicted of all of those crimes, it would have to be witnesses,” he said. “Once the decision was made to include witnesses, things really went downhill for me.”

Andy, El Chapo does make a valid point. If the worst criminal in US History, since Benedict Arnold, gets a trial with no witnesses or documents, fairness demands that witnesses be excluded from all trials. RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast from the past): Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Unplugged)

Ah… the memories! RESIST!!

Vote Blue!!

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